Penélope Cruz Says She Learned to Act in Her Mother's Hair Salon

Oscar winner Penélope Cruz sat with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie to chat about her role in "Zoolander 2." Cruz said she was buying diapers in South Africa when Ben Stiller called her about the role.

"I have done more comedy in my own country and my own language, but not so much in America -- only the work I have done with Woody Allen and a little more," Cruz said. "So I felt like he was giving me a great opportunity."

Cruz won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the Woody Allen comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

Cruz also said she her mother's hair salon was "the best acting school."

"My mother is a hairdresser so I grew up spending a couple of hours a day in a hair salon, which was also like being a spy in the psychiatrist's office because the women were sharing their deepest secrets," she said.